1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the fields of treating or diagnosing pain, shock, and/or inflammatory conditions in a subject. More specifically, the present invention is related to the use of a pharmaceutical composition that comprises one or more DNA or RNA ligands or aptamers that inhibit and/or minimize the production of oxidized linoleic acid metabolites and/or block the activity of oxidized linoleic acid metabolites.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Many pain conditions are poorly managed by currently available analgesics. For example, burn injuries affect more than two million people annually in the United States alone. Importantly, poor pain control in burn patients is known to increase the risk for long term adverse outcomes. This is a critical issue since surveys indicate that about one-half of burned patients have inadequate pain management. Patients suffering from a burn injury experience pain at the initial heat insult, during healing, and even in a chronic form, post burn injury.
Currently available analgesics for treating burn pain (e.g., opiates, local anesthetics) demonstrate only limited efficacy and are associated with considerable adverse effects. In addition to burn pain, there are many other pain states (e.g., inflammatory pain, neuropathic pain, cancer pain, herpes zoster pain, etc) for which currently available analgesics exhibit very limited activity, especially with repeated dosing.
Shock resulting from massive trauma, severe blood or fluid loss, systemic infections, insufficient cardiac output, or any other disorder or injury that leads to a hypoperfusional state is a serious, life threatening condition. Even with aggressive and prompt treatment shock is often fatal.
Many clinical pain conditions are classified as “idiopathic” since the mechanism is not known. Development of a diagnostic test that indicates which drugs might relieve the pain would have great benefit in treating patients.
It is therefore desirable to develop a safer method of treating a pain, shock, and/or inflammatory condition in a subject.
While the invention may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. The drawings may not be to scale. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but to the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.